Monitoring of the arms embargo

Conditions of the UN arms embargo include strict monitoring. The resolution requests States to report in detail to the Secretary-General within 30 days of the date of adoption on “the specific steps they have taken to give effect to the measures imposed”. It also requires “all states, relevant United Nations bodies and, as appropriate, other organisations and interested parties to report information on possible violations” and to make the information public. The Secretary-General will report on the implementation of the arms embargo and the humanitarian situation in the two countries every 60 days. During the two-year conflict, journalists have reported both countries using resident Russian nationals to train and fly sophisticated modern fighter planes. Monitoring of abuses may be more difficult in Eritrea, which has access to ports, unlike land-locked Ethiopia, diplomatic sources said.

The US-based Global Intelligence Update said the Ethiopian offensive was unlikely to threaten Asmara, but may instead attempt “to divert the defenders in the hope of creating a breach on the southeastern front, at the town of Bure ... and seize the port of Assab, regaining access to the Red Sea and its trading routes.” It said Ethiopia, facing both drought and famine, “has strong incentive to capture the port in advance of any peace agreement”.